Enterprises and individuals periodically upgrade or replace security software products that protect their computing systems. Various conventional technologies may be used to upgrade and replace security software products. Unfortunately, conventional technologies for upgrading and replacing security software products, such as MICROSOFT INSTALLER (“MSI”) and MICROSOFT PATCH (“MSP”) technologies, may leave a computer system vulnerable during a time period when no security product is running.
MSI replacements of security products often involve uninstalling an existing security product, rebooting a computing system on which the security product was installed, and installing a new security product. The computing system may be unprotected from the time the old security product was uninstalled until the time the new security product is installed and activated.
MSP upgrades of security products may transform a first version of a security product to a second version of a security product. During the upgrade, running processes of the security product may be stopped, updated, and then restarted. Thus, the system protected by the security product may be vulnerable while the security product is being updated. What is needed, therefore, is a more effective way to replace and/or update software products.